It is not that rare. For example, see figure 6B on page 19 of https://resources.finalsite.net/images/v1749059963/houstonisdorg/bmfk0ked5qsamcaywcuw/AP_Report_2022.pdf to see that, in the Houston school district, it is common for many students with A grades in AP courses to score 1 or 2 on the AP exams.
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I think we have this debate every single July. Ha! The same thing about should I report a 1480 for highly selective schools.
The consensus advice in my circles is report 4s and 5s. With other scores, it gets tricky precisely because of the assumptions they could otherwise make. My personal conclusion is it is tougher to game your way out of that situation than some hope.
Like maybe if you have a lot of 1s and 2s, if you only report 4s and 5s, you may think you would get lucky in that they could think you have 3s instead. But then if you have 3s you probably want to report them instead, so they don’t think they might be 1s and 2s. But then if you don’t report, that may mean they think it is probably not 3s but 1s and 2s. But then if you report 3s, 4s, and 5s, they will likely assume the remainder were 1s and 2s . . . .
Basically, they will probably more or less know what happened based on what you report and your logical incentives. Which just is what it is.
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there are some private college counselors (former AOs I know) who agree with the above advice (not reporting 4s in some cases), so saying point blank “this is bad advice” is not accurate… I have heard not to report more 4s than 5s or only 5s, or more nuanced takes depending on test and schools, from experienced folks.
AOs don’t know for sure which test you took, or if you didn’t take one. They can’t actually assume you bombed it. It is a bit of gamesmanship, for sure. I suspect school to school it depends internally how they look scores - if they are using “average AP” or something then having a bunch of 4s lowers your average in comparison to others vs. none on a summary etc. (not sure anyone does that, but what their dashboards look like would matter here).
It is nuanced and depends on level of school too.
AND the above got into Williams which is one of THE hardest schools in US to get in to…so funny to say it was terrible advice.
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I don’t disagree with the point that these are topics on which people could reasonable adopt a variety of strategies.
That said, I think in most cases the answer is it probably doen’t even matter. AOs I have seen discuss this don’t seem to care much about individual AP scores anyway. To the extent they care, they seem more interested in using APs to help identify extreme grade inflation, and then in cases like that it may not so much be your AP scores as scores at your HS in general.
Given that, it is possible, I would say likely, that many people do things with AP reporting that technically count as suboptimal, but they get admitted anyway because it just didn’t matter.
I’d also personally suggest this then becomes one of those avoidance of regret decisions. Assume you get rejected from Williams, or whatever–would you feel better if you did or did not submit this AP, or SAT, or activity, or so on? Whatever you think you are least likely to regret, that is a reasonable choice.
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that is probably true that is doesn’t much matter in 95% of cases! – only time is very very very edge cases at very very small number of schools.
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AP Precalculus is a relatively new subject offering with approx 50-60% of test-takers receiving “4” and “5” scores. Do not interpret this as meaning that your daughter won’t be able to achieve scores of “5” in AB or BC, if she continues on to calculus. What is important next is for her perform her own self-analysis as to which areas she may have some minor deficiencies. Chapter-by-chapter, did she earn any grades lower than an “A” in any chapters or unit quizzes or tests. If she did, then she’ll need to spend a bit of time reviewing before calculus. Mathematics is foundational which each subject building upon the next one (algebra I & II, geometry, trigonometry, precalculus).
I wouldn’t recommend hiding any “4” scores either. The top 50 schools aren’t looking to admit only the students that can pass out of introductory courses. They need to fill up those intro classes with freshmen paying tuition dollars!
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My D took 1 AP her junior year and didn’t report the score. She was accepted to Williams, Middlebury, Vassar, Haverford, and Colby (as a Presidential Scholar). Her GPA, arts portfolio and extracurricular activities outweighed the omission of one score. Her HS, which offers few APs, is well-known to SLACs who seem to value their students. I would be surprised if the omission of one or two scores would be a dealbreaker for an otherwise strong candidate at schools that practice holistic admissions.
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I have a son, niece and nephew who all attended a HYPSM school, and two other kids who attend “top 20ish” schools. All of them got multiple 4s and reported them. Granted, this was balanced out by many more 5s. My daughter got three 4s in 10th grade and reported them all. All of my kids were accepted to multiple “top 50” schools and rejected from others. I can’t say for certain, but I’m confident not a single rejection was because of 4s on AP tests.
Like SAT/ACT scores, wholistic admissions is not a numbers game where schools tally up grades, scores and ECs to reach a minimum score. It’s part of the overall evaluation and arguably a small part. I’ve talked to a former admissions rep at many schools who told me schools value test and AP scores differently so there’s no one size fits all approach. As others have said, schools are looking primarily as validation that the student can handle the rigor and some schools, like Yale, have explicitly stated to submit all scores and they might wonder why scores weren’t submitted if you took the AP class. I would agree that perhaps don’t submit a 3 to a highly selective school.
The irony is the more selective the school, the less likely they will count for credit. Public schools are more likely to count the scores so one son could’ve graduated in just under 3 years but chose to get a minor, still graduate early and will take it easy senior year.
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As of fall 2025, 37 states have implemented statewide or systemwide AP credit policies, which typically require all public higher education institutions to award credit for AP Exam scores of 3 or higher.
I would generally recommending reporting AP scores of 4. Report 3’s only to schools that give credit for that score.
Summit prep recently posted an analysis of top schools’ AP test score policies wrt use in admissions: Top Colleges Want AP Exam Scores - Summit Prep | SAT, ACT, and Academic Tutoring in NJ
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However, there can still be variation across public schools in a state for subject credit and fulfillment of requirements and prerequisites.
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